


The Eyes Start Love; Intimacy Perfects It

by Bobateaz



Category: Dark (TV 2017), dark - Fandom
Genre: Cuddling, Dancing, F/M, Hugging, Intimacy, It’s not sexual don’t worry !!!, Kissing, Pre-Relationship, braiding, non sexual intimacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25124092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobateaz/pseuds/Bobateaz
Summary: 5 + 1 times Elisabeth and Noah were intimate with each other during their time shared in the apocalypse.
Relationships: Elisabeth Doppler/Noah | Hanno Tauber, Elisabeth/Noah
Comments: 21
Kudos: 103





	The Eyes Start Love; Intimacy Perfects It

1\. Hug

_Why are you being such an asshole?_

Noah's eyes widened at the sight of Elisabeth's hands moving so furiously. The expression that laid upon her face was venomous and even her signing was showing it.

Noah could only sigh and bring his hands up to sign.

_I'm not. You are being too sensitive, again._

Even though she shook her head and rolled her eyes, she knew deep down, that he was right. If she had learned anything during the years of living with the boy...it was that he was often right about everything. Maybe it was the fact that he was older and wiser... but it pissed her off.

Elisabeth had been a little rude and oversensitive and she knew it, but how could she not be? He was sneaking out at night to talk and hang out with Jonas, and had been leaving her all alone in the house that they were sharing.

He had been doing this for months—leaving while she was in a deep sleep. It was only last night that she finally woke up and saw that he was sneaking out.

It scared her so much. She didn't want to be alone. Not after-

She just didn't want to be alone. And he knew that... or he should've known that.

The thought of being alone made her eyes brim with tears. But she didn't let them fall... not in front of him. She was 15 now, and she could not, and would not cry in front of him.

_You know why I don't like being alone_. She signed, more calm now. The rush of anger had fled from her body.

Noah's eyes softened. "I'm sorry." He said out loud, and before he could sign it to her, she just nodded. She could read lips after all.

_I don't care. Just leave me alone for a while. I need to cool off._ She looked away from him. Dismissing the look of hurt on his face.

Noah just nodded at her request, and left his spot from their designated dinner table. He made his way upstairs and she assumed he was going up to his room. When she felt he was out of reach, she began to cry. Thoughts of her dad, mom, and sister began flooding her brain.

She missed them deeply, but she knew that she would never be able to see them... ever again.

After only minutes (that felt like hours), Noah returned downstairs. Elisabeth's back was facing him, but he could hear the stifled sobs and see how her shoulder shook. He was supposed to protect her... and he was doing a shitty job.

He walked down the stairs quietly as if she would hear, and stood beside her. He set a hand on her shoulder, and she shot up to engulf him in a hug. For the time they had been living together, they surprisingly hadn't touched often. So this felt... good.

Noah always did want to touch her though. He wanted to hold her hand, or caress her cheek... but he felt odd whenever thoughts like that popped into his head, and always decided against it.

Elisabeth clutched onto him tighter and cried silently into his chest and soon he could feel the wetness of her tears soaking through his shirt, but he didn't mind.

He ran his hands through her hair and rubbed his hands up and down her back in an attempt to soothe her. When she finally stopped crying, she pulled back from his body—and although he wouldn't admit it, he felt like some warmth and happiness was pulled away from him too—and looked up at him.

_Thank you, Noah_.

He nodded. _Of course._

...

2\. Hair

Elisabeth stared at herself in the dirty mirror. Her long blonde hair cascading down to her waist. She found the length of it, quite nice. She was 17 now, and the way her hair framed her face made her look like it. She wasn't the little girl she once was. Not to mention, her hair was the perfect length for a nice ponytail or braid. (Not that it really mattered... as she wasn't trying to impress anyone—other than Noah really.)

She began to sort her hair into 3 sections to star her braid, but came to a halt when she saw Noah step into the bathroom with her. She assumed that he had knocked, but of course, she couldn't hear.

The young girl glared at his reflection in the mirror, he stared intently back at her.

_What if I was naked? You shouldn't just barge in here._ She signed and rolled her eyes slightly, even though the thought of that made her blush a little.

Noah only chuckled. _Obviously I wouldn't stare... and I would leave quickly. I'm not that creepy._

Elisabeth laughed at that too. _What did_ _you need?_

A confused look appeared on his face. _What do I need?_

She sighed and signed faster than usual. _Why did you come in here? Need to piss?_

_Just wanted to spend time with you._ He nudged his shoulder into hers.

_We are literally always together._

_Is that a bad thing?_

_Of course not._ She smiled at him. He did the same, until his gaze fixated on the back of her hair.

_Braiding_? He signed.

She nodded. _Need a new look, I think_.

Noah shrugged nonchalantly and grabbed a lock of her hair in his hand. After he ran his hands through it, he set it over her shoulder once again.

_Looks good like this too._ He looked up at her reflection in the mirror.

She couldn't stop the blush from spreading to her cheeks, so she just shook her head in an attempt to hide it.   
  


_It looks rough... and messy_. She signed.

_It's charming._

She bit the inside of her cheek to stop from smiling. _I need to braid my hair now. Can you leave?_

_I can braid it... if you'd like._

Elisabeth turned around to face him, instead of looking at the mirror. Her eyes widened at the picture of Noah braiding hair. Then she wondered who's hair he had done... a past girlfriend maybe?

_You can braid?_ She signed it so fast that she was afraid he wouldn't be able to read it.

He nodded, a small smile on his lips. _Yeah. I used to braid my sisters hair._

Her smile fell at the mention of his sister, who she presumed was dead. Noah only nudged her though.

_Let me braid it_.

She contemplated it for a moment, but of course, she gave in. Turning around to face the mirror, the girl couldn't contain the smile on her face. Noah noticed of course, and felt his face get a little warm.

When he took her hair in his hands, he was gentle and calm. He didn't pull hard and he tried to do it as painless and careful as possible. As is she was a fragile china doll, and he was painting it. One wrong move and-

Of course this wasn't actually the case. She was 17 years old... she could take the pulling of hair.

When he reached the end of the braid, his hands lingered on her back as he twisted the parts of hair around each other. It sent shivers up her spine, and she had to physically stop herself from jolting away from his touch.

When he was done, their eyes met in the mirror. His hands still rested on her back, but this time she didn't want to jolt away... she wanted to lean into his touch. But before she could, to her surprise, he looked away first.

_All done._

Elisabeth turned to the side to look at the beautiful braid that cascaded down her back.

She turned to face Noah. _It looks so nice... thank you._

He only nodded, and left the bathroom. When he did so, Elisabeth let out a large breath of air that was being held captive in her lungs.

...

3\. Dance

Elisabeth was 18 now. She would've graduated high school already. But instead of living a normal life, she was living in the apocalypse.

She did try and have some normalcy in her life though, she really did. She would make up scenarios and such that normal teenage girls would do... but it wasn't the same.

She would never get to even go to a high school, or graduate with her family sitting in the audience, or plan for university's... she never even got to go to a school dance.

But all these thoughts were dumb and naive. There were more important things in the world than school dances and girlish high school things. She needed to focus on her fight for survival every day in this damn apocalypse—not worry about petty things like that.

But she did though... she thought about these things often, and felt weak whenever she did. But that didn't stop them from flooding her brain every gi in chance. When it got to be too much bottling it in, she occasionally would tell Noah about her thoughts—just to get them out of her brain. He never judged. Not once. He always understood, and talked through them logically with her. He never once shot her feelings down, he always validated them.

One day, after pouring her feelings out to Noah the day before, and after scavenging around Winden, she returned home to see the boy standing in the living room in a black button up, and dress pants. She took notice in the portable radio and headphones beside him as well.

_What's going on?_ She signed, a confused look on her face.

He smiled. _A Dance._

_Dance? What are you talking about?_

_We're going to have a dance._

It hit her then. He was throwing her, her first ever dance... and it would be with Noah. The boy she had been protected by all these years. The boy who made her heart flutter by even the smallest of interactions. It seemed fitting.

_We're going to dance._ She repeated, and he nodded.

_Go get changed_. There's something on your bed. He gestured upstairs where their rooms were, and she hurriedly made her way up.

A pretty red dress was laid out on her bed. When she put it on, it cut off just above her knees. It was a tad bit big in the waist and chest area, but it fit well enough. Unfortunately, she couldn't zip it all the way.

She went down the steps carefully, causing Noah's head to perk up.

_Beautiful_. He signed, a small smile on his lips.

She blushed. _Can you zip it?_

Noah nodded as she turned her back to him. He gently zipped her dress up, and made sure not to touch her, for some odd reason. She wondered if she had given him the wrong signals before... maybe he felt uncomfortable touching her. She wished and hoped that this wasn't the case.

_Thank you._ She set a hand on his shoulder, hoping his reaction would be calm.

_Of course_. He was calm, and he didn't flinch away from her touch.

He did turn away from her touch right after and began to fiddle with the radio. He slipped it in his pant pocket and plugged the headphones in. He held them out in front of him, and Elisabeth hesitated.

_For me?_ She signed.

He nodded, and she took them. He helped her adjust them over her ears. She giggled a bit as they struggled. They eventually got them to sit right, and Noah pushed a button on the radio.

Elisabeth's eyes widened as she felt the vibrations of the music. She obviously couldn't hear it, but she could feel it through her body.

Noah smiled at her reaction and he had wished so deeply to have taken a photo of it. He had been looking for a Polaroid camera, but he hadn't been lucky enough to find one yet.

He took a step back and held his hand out for her. He bowed a little to look like 'a real gentleman.'

Elisabeth giggled and slipped her much smaller hand in his. He pulled her close and rested his hands above her waist, her arms went around his neck. Truth be told, she hadn't danced... ever, and was glad that Noah took the lead.

He swayed back and forward to nothing but his imagination. He wasn't even listening to music, but the swaying felt rhythmic.

She was quite a bit shorter than him—maybe half a head—but their faces were closer then they had ever been. He smelled good, she realized. When she finally looked up into his eyes, (which she had been avoiding) he smiled down at her.

"Thank you." She mouthed. No sound came out, but Noah could read her lips just fine.

"Of course."

He leaned his head down and rested his forehead against hers. It was a familiar thing for her, and she leaned into his touch. Her arms tightened around his neck a little as if to pull him even closer, but she let up. Now wasn't the time for any of that... right now they were dancing.

...

4\. Sleep

A yawn escaped Elisabeth mouth as she entered the house. She had been off on her own all today, just doing her thing around the town. That was because something was out of order today. Her mind was jumbled and thoughts were racing around her head. Particularly thoughts of her family, and more importantly, her fathers death.

His death was playing over and over in her head and she couldn't make it stop. It was worse when she slept, though. When she was awake, at least she could distract herself with other activities... when she was asleep, it was torture.

The anniversary of his death was coming up. It always got worse around this time, and Noah knew this too. He usually gave her all the space she needed, but comforted her when right.

This time, when she found him in the living room, except he wasn't alone. Jonas was there as well, and they were sitting on the ground with drinks in hand. She wondered how they had been so lucky to find the adult beverages—but she didn't dwell too hard on it. A part of Elisabeth was happy. She was thrilled that Noah had a friend closer to his age and had the same parts as him. But at the same time, she also wanted alone time with him.

She wanted to snuggle next to him and cry on his shoulder while he played with her hair... but that would have to wait.

Jonas saw her first, as Noah's back was facing her.

_Hello_. He signed, a small smile grazing his lips.

Her own smile appeared at this. It seemed that Noah had taught him some sign language for her.

_Hello, Jonas_.

In an instant, Noah's head whipped around to look at her and he stood up just as fast. In just seconds, he was in front of her and pulling her into a hug.

She shut her eyes as they embraced. And bathed in the familiarity of all of it.

When they pulled away, a soft look rested on his face. _Feeling better?_

She nodded. _Just tired._

He put a hand on her back and guided her to a spot on the couch. He sat down and guided her down with him. He patted his lap and a confused look graced her face.

_What_?! She signed frantically.

_Lay here and sleep._ He was trying to hard not to laugh at her naïveté.

She just let out a breath and nodded. She rested her head down on his lap, and even though he was bony, it was surprisingly comfortable. She saw Jonas across from her, only he was sideways now.

She could barely keep her eyes open, but she saw Jonas' mouth move. Him and Noah were obviously talking about something, and it pained her that she would never know.

Instead, she just shut her eyes.

They opened again shortly after when she felt his hand stroke her hair. He ran his fingers through her hair over and over again, and it made her even more sleepy.

"Do you care for her a lot?" Jonas looked at Noah intently, then back to the tired girl.

Noah nodded. "Yes. So much."

"Then what's taking you so damn long?" Jonas laughed.

"I'm just waiting for the right time..."

Jonas nodded. "Yeah. Maybe that's a good idea. Save it for a time when she's awake."

Noah only nodded and continued to run his hand through her hair.

"Should I wake her up now then?" Jonas chuckled, earning a glare from his friend.

...

5\. Sick

Noah shot up from his bed in a cold sweat. His head was pounding and his body felt cold... yet hot at the same time. The sun was already up, the grey light outside was pouring through his opened window. That meant it was later then he'd wanted it. He always tried to get up when the sun was rising... but he couldn't today.

A strangled cough came from his throat and he wiped away sweat that had formed on his forehead. He knew he was sick with something... but he hoped it wasn't serious. He also hoped that Elisabeth wasn’t feeling ill either. It was fine for him to be sick, but he couldn’t handle it if he got her sick as well. 

As if she could read his mind, Elisabeth knocked on his door, and let herself in. She was 20 now, and old enough that Noah felt less weird about thinking about all the time. When she was 15, 16.... that was a different story. Now, she was older, and things were changing between them.

He got lost in his thoughts and didn't even notice her frantic signing. His gaze returned to her hands but he could barely make out what she was saying. He wanted to tell her to get out while she wasn’t infected yet, but he couldn’t barely speak, his throat was so dry. 

_Are you okay?_ She signed quick, but he didn’t answer. He just let his head fall back into his pillow.

That was when Elisabeth made her way to his side. She felt his forehead and immediately knew that his temperature was too high.

_You’re burning up._ She signed in front of him, but he wasn’t even looking at her.

She let out a huff and backed away. She needed to help him get better. She made her way downstairs to grab a bottle of water and an Advil from their medicine drawer.

When she returned, Noah was sitting up in bed. He was still sweaty, but he had the blanket pulled down to his waist now.

_Cold_. He signed weakly at her, and she just nodded and handed him the water and pill. When he swallowed and drank water, she set it on his nightstand.

_Thank you._ He tried his best to smile at her, but all he could muster was a small upturn of the corners of his mouth.

Elisabeth smiled and sat down on his bed near his feet. _Of course_. She signed.

A soft look appeared on Noah’s glistening face. _Thank you for taking care of me._

_All I did was get water._

He reached over and set his hand on top of hers. His eyes didn’t leave hers though.

Noah didn’t have to say anything, because Elisabeth already knew. She had gotten good at reading people’s mouths over the years... but she had also learnt to read their eyes.

...

+1. Kiss

Elisabeth sat on the front steps of their home, rocking back and forward. Her thoughts were filled of all things terrible. It was already dark out and Noah hadn’t returned yet.

He was spending the day with Jonas doing god knows what... but usually he would have been back by now. Before the dark overtook everything.

Her eyes darted around in hopes some seeing his figure walking back home, but after an hour of doing this, there was nothing.

She was 21 now. She was perfectly capable of spending time by herself, of course. But It was only recently when she realized that being alone at the house, didn’t trigger flashbacks of her dads death.

All those years later and that day still messed with her brain... but she was getting better. Until now.

The thought of Noah being gone at such a late hour made her think the worst.

It was cold outside, and even her jacket, toque and mitts couldn’t keep her warm enough. Elisabeth finally decided to go inside. After nearly an hour and a half of waiting, she plopped herself at the kitchen table where the front door was in view.

She rested her arm on the table and propped her head up... waiting.

Finally after nearly an hour, (which felt like more) Noah returned home. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the girl sitting at the table, a fire burning in her eyes when she finally noticed him.

She stood up quickly and made her way over, and Noah knew he was in for it.

_Where were you_!? She signed furiously.

_I was with Jonas. You knew that._

_You were gone for so long! I was worried._

_I’m sorry._

She punched him in the shoulder. _Asshole_.

A laugh escaped Noah’s mouth, but he still felt bad for making her worry so much. He pulled her in a tight embrace, and to his surprise, she didn’t fight back.

He ran his hands through her long blonde hair, and shut his eyes—trying to capture this moment in his memory forever.

When they pulled away, he noticed her eyes seemed to look a little bit glossy, but he didn’t say anything.

_Don’t do that again._ Her brows were furrowed, but she was smiling the tiniest bit.

Noah nodded. _I won’t._

Their eyes met at that second. Noah wanted so desperately to look away, as it felt like her gaze was burning right through him... but he didn’t.

Her big blue eyes were searching for something within him. Protection. Warmth. Love? He had hoped so.

He broke the contact first by flickering his eyes to her lips for split second. This was enough for her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. It was her first, so it was messy and imperfect and beautiful.

When they pulled away, the first Noah noticed was the bright smile spreading across Elisabeth’s face.

She grabbed his hand. _Finally._

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this is kinda trash!   
> please comment what u thought though bc I like reading them !   
> also let me know if there’s any spelling and grammar errors bc it’s not proof read !


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